‘Swapna, I am alive. I got down by a crane. You come here,’ Arif was speaking to his wife over phone moments after he escaped a fire that broke out at multi-storey building in Dhaka’s Banani on Thursday (Mar 28), killing at least seven people and injuring scores.
Arif, an audit manager a private firm, said there were 7-8 people at his office on the 12 floor of the building when the fire began.
They attempted to leave the building using staircase for several times but couldn’t make it due to heat and smoke.
“Everywhere went dark and we ran to office,” he said.
The man said they have quit hoping that they would come out alive after they started to face breathing complication
“If we stayed for a little bit more time we wouldn’t have been alive,” said Arif.
At one point, they broke the window glass and sought for help before a fire service crane rescued him along with another person, Iqbal.
Arif, however, couldn’t tell whether others have made it or not.
While speaking to this reporter near Banai’s Star Kabab restaurant, Arif’s wife Swapna arrived and a heartbreaking scene created afterward.
Later, the couple left the spot with their relatives.
The fire broke out at the 21-storey ‘FR Tower’ around 1pm with several people trapped inside.
Three Air Force helicopters joined the fire service units in their battle against the flames. Army and navy teams also joined the rescue efforts.
A number of garment buying houses and internet service providers have their offices in the 22-floor building.
The building also houses the offices of different business firms, sales centres, restaurants and a convention centre. An estimate of the number of workers at these institutions has yet to emerge.
